Car-fender.



H. A. MULLETT.

CAR FENDER.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 19. 1913.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

Patented June 15, 1915.

-l %N m THE NORRIS FE7ER-S CD.. PHOTO-LITI'HL, WASHINGTON D- C.

H. A. M ULLETT.

CAR FENDER.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 19. 1913.

1, 142,834. Patented June 15, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

W/ Ana/555. Z2? 16% W @MWM THE NORRIS PETERS 50.. PHOTO-LITHO-, WASHINGTON, D. C..

H. A. MULLETT.

CAR FENDER.

'APPLICATION FILED 05c. 19, 1913.

1,142,834, Patented June 15, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET a.

WIT/VAZSUEJT THE NORRIS PETERS 60.. PHOTO-Lingo" WASHINGTON, D, C.

iin'rrnn snares rarnnr ensues.

HOWARD A. MULLE'IT, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR TO THE MILWAUKEE ELECTRIC RAILWAY & LIGHT COMPANY, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, A CORPORA- 'IION OF WISCONSIN.

CAR-FENDER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed December 19, 1913. Serial No. 807,601.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HOWARD A. MULLETT, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of-Wisconsin, have invented new and useful Improvements in Car-Fenders, of which the following is a description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which are a part of this specification.

This invention relates to car fenders of the type in which the fender is normally carried in an elevated position where it will clear the roadbed, but which will become automatically released and dropped upon the swinging gate or guard in front thereof coming in contact with an object such as the body of a person lying on the track, or which may be released by the motorman placing his foot on a releasing pin extending above the car platform.

One object of the invention is to provide for forcibly throwing the fender to its 0perative position as soon as it is released by the guard or the releasing pin and also to provide means for conveniently resetting the fender to its elevated position through the operation of a treadle projecting above the car platform and only requiring pressure from the motormans foot to restore the parts to their normal position.

Another object of the invention is to permit ofthe ready removal of the guard at times when two cars are to be coupled together in order to allow clearance for the radially moving draw bar on sharp curves, since the guards of the two cars would be liable to come into engagement with each other when the cars are making a sharp curve.

With the above and other objects in view the invention consists in the car fender as herein claimed and all equivalents.

Referring to the accompanying drawings in which like characters of reference indicate the same parts in the different views: Figure 1 is a side elevation of a car fender constructed in accordance with this invention as applied to a car platform shown in dotted lines, the car fender being shown in full lines in its normal or set position and being shown in dotted lines in its thrown position ready for use; Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof; Fig. 3 is'a front view showing the guard and the releasing and resetting treadles; Fig. 4 is a detail view showing the link connection with the guard; Fig. 5 is a similar View of the opposite side of the part shown in Fig. 4 showing the means for looking the guard supporting brackets in their socket plates; Fig. 6 is a detail view of a link connection of the fender releasing and resetting shaft; Fig. 7 is a sectional view through such connection showing the play of the connecting lever on the shaft; Fig. 8 is a detail View of the foot-operated fender releasing means; Fig. 9 is a sectional plan view thereof on the plane of line 99 of Fig. 8; Fig. 10 is a rear view of the supporting connection of the guard; and, Fig. 11 is a bottom view of the end of the fender se-tting and releasing shaft which has connection with the fender. Fig. 12 is a view similar to Fig. 7, showing the position of the parts after the fender is thrown.

In these drawings 10 indicates a pair of fender supports suitably. secured. to the frame of the car beneath the platform and held firmly in place by braces 11. These supports 10-have bracket bearings 12 fastened to the bottom thereof and in these bearing brackets is journaled a square shaft 13 forming part of the frame of the fender 1 1 which is thus pivotally suspended beneath the car. An arm 15 projects'rearwardly and upwardly from the upper edge of the fender frame and has an eye bolt 16 adjustably mounted at its upper end in which a heavy coil spring 17 is engaged, the other end of the spring being connected with a bolt 18 on the frame of the car so that the fender in addition to its weight tending to throw itto its lower position is given a strong spring action for forcibly throwing. it. The upwardly and forwardly projecting arm 19 on the upper edge of the i fender frame has a chain 20 connected with it, said chain extending upwardly and somewhat rearwardly topass around a pulley 21 on the bottom of the platform and then eX- tending forwardly to connect with a connecting rod' 22 which has a hook-shaped front end connected with an arm 23 which the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, and thus cause the fender 14 to move from one position shown to the other.

An arm 26 is fixed on the squared projecting end of shaft 24 and a bent rod 27 is pivotally connected thereto and extends forwardly and upwardly through an opening in the platform and terminates in a head 28 on which the motorman may press with his foot and thereby cause the shaft 24 to turn and lift the fender 14 from the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1 to the position shown in full lines. The bent rod 27 after passing through the opening in the platform ofthe car is surrounded by a uide casing 29 which guides it in its movements and surrounds the opening or slot in the platform. Instead of the head of the reset lever 27 being flush with the top of the floor when the fender is in the normal elevated position in such a manner that a passenger on the car might stand upon the same without intention to do so, and thereby prevent the operation of the fender, the small guide casing 29 holds the reset lever head about three inches above the floor line, in which position a passenger would not be standing thereon unintentionally. At the other end of the shaft 24 is a collar 30whioh is adjustably fixed thereon by a set screw 31 and a projection on the collar forms a shoulder 32 which is adapted to be engaged by a shoulder 33 on an arm 34 which is forked at its end to loosely fit on the shaft 24 on either side of the collar 30. A pin 35 on the end of the arm 34 has a sliding movement in a slot in the forked slotted end of a bell crank lever 36 which is pivotally mounted in a bracket 37 secured to the bottom of the platform. The other arm of the bell crank lever 36 forms a cupshaped holder 38 for the rounded end of a headed releasing pin 39 which passes through an opening in the platform. When the motorinan presses his foot downwardly on the projecting headed end of the releasing pin 39 the bell crank lever swings downwardly and rearwardly, carrying the arm 34 with it and by reason of the engagement of the shoulders 32 and 33 the shaft 24 is caused to turn a sufficient distance to carry the pivotal connection of the connecting rod 22 with the arm 23 above the level of the shaft 24, whereupon the pull of spring 17 throws the fender to its lower position, completing the full arc of turning movement of the shaft 24 as permitted by the'shoulder 32 leaving the shoulder 33. Thus, the fender may be thrown to its operative lower position by pressing downwardly on the releasing pin 39 or it may be restored to its normal upper position by pressing the foot on rod 27.

The arm 23 which is fixed on shaft 24 has a shoulder 40, and an arm 41 which is forked at its end to loosely fit upon the shaft 24 on either side of arm 23 has a shoulder 42 to engage said shoulder for causing the shaft 24 to turn and lift the outer end of arm 23 above the level thereof for releasing the fender. The outer end of arm 41 is connected by a bent link 43 with an arm 44 on a hanger 45 supporting a guard 46. There are two of the hangers 45, one at each end of the guard 46, and they are pivotally connected with brackets 47 which are detachably secured to the bottom of the car platform some distance ahead of the fender. Thus, when the guard, which is adjustable in the hangers 45 to cause it to hang the desired distance above the roadbed, is swung rearwardly, as by passing over the body of a person lying on the track, the arm 44 swings forwardly, pulling the arm 41 with it by means of the bent link connection 43, thus releasing the fender automatically and permitting it to be thrown to its lower operative position by the spring 17, where it will catch the object on the track and prevent the same being run over by the wheelsof the car.

As seen in Figs. 4, 5 and 10 the brackets 47 are "l -shaped to slidably fit within correspondingly shaped sockets formed in the socket plates 48 secured to the bottom of the platform, these sockets being formed by downwardly extending parallel flanges with their edges turned inwardly toward each other to fit beneath the outwardly extending flanges of the top of the brackets. The front webs of the brackets limit their rearmovement by engaging the ends of the socket plates and a gravity dog 49 pivoted on the side of each of the brackets 47 engages a notch 50 in the bottom of one of the flanges of the socket plate to prevent accidental disengagement of the brackets from the socket plates. When, however, it is desired to remove the guard, as when cars are coupled together, this may be quickly done by disengaging the link 43 from the arm 44, after removing a cotter pin 51 holding them together, and then releasing the engagement of the dogs 49 by swinging them out of the notches 50 and then drawing the brackets 49 forwardly out of the socket plates. The link 43 when so disconnected will not drop on account of there being a coil spring 52 connecting it with the platform, though not interfering with its operative movements.

The operation of the various parts has been described incidental to the description of their construction and arrangement and it will be understood that a car fender con structed in accordance with this invention does not require the tripping means to travel a distance corresponding with the throw of the fender, but such tripping means, whether it be the guard or the releasing pin, has only to move a distance corresponding with the movement of the arm 23 from its normal position to a position above the level of shaft 24 when the spring 17 completes the further movement of the parts and forcibly throws the fender to its operative position. The resetting of the fender'by means of a treadle action is a feature of advantage in that it relieves the platform of the presence of a resetting lever or turning stem, and the feature of the guard being readily removable is one of obvious advantage.

It will be noted that the front edge of the fender frame is formed of a V-shaped angle iron which is not only a substantial construction, but has the further desirable characteristic of giving to the fender a higher efiiciencyin operation by providing a knife edge which may be permitted to fall closer to the surface of the roadway than would be possible with other types of construction.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a car fender, a guard comprising a guard member, brackets in which the guard and guard member are pivotally mounted, said brackets being provided with T-shaped upper ends, sockets having T-shaped guideways to receive the T-shaped upper ends of the brackets, gravity dogs pivotally mounted on the brackets and engaging notches in the sockets for preventing accidental removal. of the brackets from the sockets, and means on the guard for connection with a fender member.

2. In a car fender, a guard member,

the link, and a fender member having connection with the fender releasing and setting shaft.

3. A car mounted fender member, a suitably journaled shaft, an arm fixed thereon and in the normal position of the shaft extending forwardly, a hook-shaped rod pivotally connected with the arm, a chain connecting the hook-shaped rod with the fender member after passing around a pulley to the rear of the fender member, a spring for forcing the fender member downwardly, and means fender, comprising a suitably for turning the shaft to carry the pivotal connection of the hook-shaped rod above the level of the shaft for permitting the spring to lower the fender member.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

HOWARD A. MULLETT.

Witnesses:

FRED D. RUFFLER, D. O. Hrns'ronrr.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0." 

